The invention relates to a decorative cardboard hollow shell which is to be filled with gifts such as Easter eggs, hearts, gift boxes, imitation fruits and the like, and which is decorated outside and/or inside with pictorial elements. It consists of two half-shells with curved surfaces. Only one shell half may be used for the open presentation of the gifts, in particular, for exhibition purposes.
Such decorative cardboard hollow shells are available in various design. However, they all have one basic form, which is due in part to manufacturing technology. The cardboard hollow shells to be filled consist of two evenly or nearly evenly dimensioned halves, whereby the half serving as the bottom is provided with a cardboard strip (neck) on its inside for holding the upper half (cover) in position. The bottom can also be flattened to provide better support. The cover half may also have decorative elements similar to those provided on the bottom half. The distinctive feature of the decorative cardboard hollow shells is their outer structure. This is achieved by mounting printed motifs to the outside. However, at the circumferential edges the cardboard hollow shell halves do not form clean edges, despite being cut later in the manufacturing process. This edge is therefore covered by a paper border strip which, at the same time, forms part of the decoration. The paper border strip covers both the edge itself and an approximately 1-2 cm wide area inside and outside of the shell adjacent the edge. However, applying the paper border strip requires time-consuming and costly manual labor taking up 30-40% of the total time required for manufacturing the product (depending on the dimensions of the product).
It is the object of the present invention to provide a decorative cardboard hollow shell of the type described, wherein the need for applying a paper border strip at the cut edge of the shell, and thus the costly and time-consuming manual labor, is eliminated without sacrificing the appearance and the various design possibilities for the shell.